The present invention is related to a photoconductor panel for lighting a keyboard. The photoconductor panel is disposed in an electronic product and has photoconduction structures corresponding the peripheries of the display panel and keyboard of the electronic product. The light beam of few light source is effectively utilized to provide full illumination for both the display panel and the keyboard.
In order to provide sufficient brightness for the display 91 of a conventional electronic product (as shown in FIG. 5), a photoconductor panel 92 is disposed on the bottom of the liquid crystal module 94 and a light emitting diode (LED) is used as a light source 93. However, the LED serves as a point light source so that the portion of the photoconductor panel 92 right in front of the light source 93 will have densest brightness. The brightness will decline from the portion to the edge of the photoconductor panel 92. The brightness on the edge is often nearly zero. With the light source 93 disposed at the middle of two sides of the photoconductor panel 92, if there is no good photoconduction structure for conducting light beam to two sides of the photoconductor panel 92, the brightness will be uneven. In order to overcome the problems of insufficient brightness and unevenness thereof, some manufacturers have tried to arrange multiple light sources 93 along the periphery of the liquid crystal module 94 (as shown in the mobile phone of FIG. 6) to supplement the brightness and evenness. However, the multiple light sources 93 lead to high power consumption. This is problematic to those electronic products necessitating frequent charging. Such electronic products are often equipped with a keyboard 95 for inputting data. In a dark place, it is important to illuminate the keyboard 95. In order to overcome the problem of illumination, multiple light sources 93 are additionally disposed on the bottom of the keyboard 95. These light sources 93 also result in high power consumption. Moreover, more light sources 93 lead to higher manufacturing cost.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a photoconductor panel for lighting a keyboard. The photoconductor panel is made by means of integral injection molding for optical element. By means of the optical properties of the photoconduction face and the photoconduction sections and photoconduction grooves along the circumference of the through hole of the photoconductor panel, the light beam of few light source is effectively utilized to provide full illumination for both the liquid crystal module and the keyboard. Accordingly, the power consumption is reduced so that the battery of the electronic product can be more durably used.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above photoconductor panel in which the photoconduction face and photoconduction structures necessary for both the liquid crystal module and the keyboard are integrally made so that the manufacturing cost is lowered.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein: